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Three Year French Log | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Paigems Newbie United States Joined 5091 days ago 34 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 1 of 29 11 March 2011 at 3:13am | IP Logged |
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Hi everyone!
I'm new to French. I'm studying it because I would like to attend McGill University located in Quebec for my master's program in three years. I need to be at least basically fluent in French by the time I'm accepted; so that's my goal, three years to reach a basic fluency in French. I plan to begin with FSI Introduction to French Phonology and then continue from there. I was thinking after that I will continue with Michel Thomas and then possibly Assimil and French In Action. I then plan to move on to native materials. Before I start can anyone give me advice? Maybe things you wish you had known before beginning to learn French? Wish me luck :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| microsnout TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Canada microsnout.wordpress Joined 5462 days ago 277 posts - 553 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 2 of 29 12 March 2011 at 12:59am | IP Logged |
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Hello Paigems. I assume you know that McGill is an English university. Still, its a good idea to study French if
you have 3 years and plan go there for your masters. I am not sure what "basically fluent" means - these terms are very fuzzy in my view. Things I wish I had known or would have done differently? You bet there is! Firstly I think I would have avoided any contact whatsoever with other French students (especially anglophones). By contact I mean talking or listening to them in French, it is ok to discuss learning methods in English. I think that talking with students had conditioned my ear to the point where I found fluently bilingual anglophones much easier to understand than native francophones to the point where I would wonder why the francophones couldn't speak properly!! By restricting contact to just native speakers over the past 4 months I think I have finally reversed that damage but it cost me time. Secondly, if your goal is speaking I would avoid almost all reading except perhaps children's books and bande dessinée at the beginner to intermediate level and then add news sources. Until you can sit down with a 8 year old native speaker and fluently converse on any topic that they are capable of, you don't need to read literature or novels. An eight year old has not likely read any great 17th century French literature yet they can speak fluently with anyone in the country. Doing so will just slow you down and worse it may lead you to use words and phrases that are either dated or just not used in daily speech in your target area. I am not really sold on the value of Assimil but then I have not used it so it is hard to be sure. My concern is that, although it uses native speakers, the audio is highly artificial, as clearly articulated as an audio book and for someone interested in Canadian French it is mismatched in terms of accent and common phrases. There is probably no harm in using it at the outset though. Returning to the idea of "basic fluency", back in Toronto I knew students at the "Advanced" level at the Alliance Française who could speak with very good fluency in class but would definitely have some or a lot of difficulty with one of my language partners here in Montreal who is pure laine Québécois. Good luck and bonne continuation.. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Paigems Newbie United States Joined 5091 days ago 34 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 3 of 29 12 March 2011 at 7:32am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for all the advice, it's very helpful!
I suppose I should have been more clear about my reason for learning French and the level I wish to achieve in three years. I know that McGill is an English speaking university; however, I am hoping to be accepted to their genetic counseling program which will require me to be able to speak French. I will need to be able to interact with Francophone patients and doctors. So I guess what I mean by basic fluency is a level that will allow me speak to and understand French speakers while still sounding intelligent. I'm hoping this is not too ambitious a goal...I'm really looking forward to being able to attend McGill and experiencing a new country and language :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Paigems Newbie United States Joined 5091 days ago 34 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 4 of 29 13 March 2011 at 1:05am | IP Logged |
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I finished chapter 1 of FSI French Phonology today. It took me about an hour and a half because I went over a few things more than once. I think it's already helping my pronunciation! I'll update in a few days once I'm about half way done (chapter 5). :)
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| Paigems Newbie United States Joined 5091 days ago 34 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 5 of 29 19 March 2011 at 4:37am | IP Logged |
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I am now half way done with FSI French Phonology. So far I think it has helped my accent quite a bit. I also think that it has helped my ability to predict how words should be pronounced.
I have figured out how to pronounce the French R in most words; however, I cannot pronounce the R in words that have consonant sounds and then R. For example, a word with br in it would be very difficult for me to say. I am hoping that will eventually go away with practice, but I'd really appreciate some advice on the French R if anyone has any to offer. I'm really starting to get into French, I can't wait until I'm done with Michel Thomas and starting Assimil! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| CheeseInsider Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5113 days ago 193 posts - 238 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin* Studies: French, German | Message 6 of 29 19 March 2011 at 2:39pm | IP Logged |
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I suggest you start with Michel Thomas now, it won't take you long and by the time you finish it you'll be able
to conjugate all regular -er and the more important irregular verbs in tons of tenses. The ones I can think of off the bat are the present, future, the simple past, another past tense, subjunctive and maybe more I'm not sure. You'll be able to use articles properly and have an okay vocabulary to start with. Have you heard of Lingq.com? If not, it's basically just a website that has articles with audio. The great thing is, all the words on the article can be translated into English (or any other language it support) just by hovering over the word. Also, I think you'll like Assimil, it's a good course. But it gets to a really diffcult level at around chapter 30, it feels like it jumps up 2 whole levels. Maybe I just gave up too quickly though, you might be different :) I don't really know how to explain the French R... But basically, as a rule I've noticed, (which hopefully is correct!!!!! That would be embarassing if I made such a silly mistake) the R is voiced when it is after a voiced consonant. And devoiced in front of a devoiced consonant. So the R will be voiced when after a "b". This I'm sure you already figured out. I wouldn't stress too much about pronunciation if I were you (at least not anytime soon), you have 3 whole years :D Good luck and please keep us updated on your progress :) Hopefully some native speakers can help you out! Edited by CheeseInsider on 19 March 2011 at 2:40pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Paigems Newbie United States Joined 5091 days ago 34 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 7 of 29 20 March 2011 at 4:04am | IP Logged |
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Thank you for the response :)
I was able to figure out the pronunciation of most of the consonant r sounds today! Oddly enough practicing with the word "premier" is what helped me. I practiced saying bremier, cremier, dremier, fremier, and gremier and then went back and tried saying real words with consonant r sounds and I was able to. Odd, I know, but if it works oh well. I ordered Michel Thomas tonight, so now I am just waiting for it to arrive. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Paigems Newbie United States Joined 5091 days ago 34 posts - 38 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 8 of 29 22 March 2011 at 5:36am | IP Logged |
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I just finished the FSI French Phonology course. I think it has really helped me form a good basic accent. I definitely still need improvement, but at least now I can look at a word and predict how it will sound. I also used a few youtube videos, about.com, acapela, and forvo to help me along the way. I plan to continue using acapela and forvo in the future.
Michel Thomas is scheduled to be here on Wednesday so I'll update again soon after with my first impressions of the course. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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